


seems these days i'm captive in this borrowed time

by odst



Series: all the kids in your clique were pretend [4]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Blood Gulch, Blood Gulch Chronicles, Gen, Mild Language, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Loop, genkins church, i rewrote the first four chapters if you read this before Succession came out, s17 divergent, s17 inspired, there will be ships but none yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-11-14 17:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18056645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odst/pseuds/odst
Summary: Genkins has gone through a lot of iterations of the singularity, causing cracks with his timeline splits, & although he's grown attached to this body, he figures he'll try a timeline that goes farther before splitting- one where he lets Caboose kill him.Genkins loses the body, but it wasn't really his-what happened to Alpha?





	1. tell your friends it was nice to meet them, but i hope i never see them again

**Author's Note:**

> hi! so this au is operating on the fact that genkins has been possessing church since he was implanted into jimmy, & that he has never come across tex before.

Genkins grins beneath his helmet as he steps out behind the rock. “Hey rookie! You never told us you knew how to drive a tank!”

The tank’s autotargeting system locks onto him, & he can hear Caboose yelling his protests, trying to keep the tank from shooting at Genkins.

“Oh, son of a bitch,” Genkins says for the dramatics as the tank shoots him, killing his vessel.

Genkins bides his time, ‘dead’, before Blue Team calls in to their command- _Agent Texas_ is due to arrive. Genkins makes a form to talk to them in, a hologram that could theoretically pass as a ghost, & appears to them. “Don’t let Agent Texas get involved,” He sounds bored, delivering the line automatically. This was actually the first time he’d followed the singularity & let himself be killed by the tank, he was ready to see Texas in the flesh, to size up the Freelancer he’d heard very interesting things about.

Within a few hours, a figure dressed in black armor appears, heading to Blue base. Genkins grins to himself, & slinks over, invisible. The unfamiliar character heads up behind Tucker & Caboose, both absentmindedly chatting, sitting on top of Blue base. They’re absolutely unaware of the soldier coming up behind them, & Genkins is pretty sure their reactions are going to be gold. When he hears the voice of the Freelancer, he’s momentarily taken aback, not expecting how deep it was, but nonetheless, committing it to memory. “You called?”

Texas says it as less a question & more of a statement, & both of the remaining members of Blue team jump up, screaming. “Jesus fuck dude! Don’t sneak up on us like that!” Tucker shrieks, & Texas is quiet, simply crossing his arms.

“You, turquoise, give me a rundown of the mission. Regulation blue, go stand against that wall.” Tex is certainly a leader, Genkins notes. It’s quite. . . stimulating, compared to how everyone else in this canyon doesn’t know how to accomplish anything.

“Uh, yes sir!” They both reply, & Caboose stands against the wall, Tucker beginning to spout off stuff about what happened, & Tex reloads his magnum.

“Our friend, Church, died going to get our flag back, real sad-” Tucker cuts off when Tex suddenly aims & shoots, a bullet hitting the wall just inches from Caboose, who immediately stiffens up from the fact he had just gotten shot at. Genkins thinks he likes Texas.

Tucker probably goes to protest, but Tex gives him a sharp, wordless look, one that’s conveyed even with a helmet on the man’s head. _Keep talking._

“Uh, well, the Reds killed him.” Tex shoots again, & Genkins finds it absolutely fascinating at how Tex begins to outline Caboose in the metal, each shot hitting its mark. Tex has impeccable aim, & Genkins knows that the singularity involves Texas quite a few times- perhaps it would be beneficial to simply convince the man to stay here in Blood Gulch. He could help keep it interesting, while Genkins was here, fucking the timeline.

“Is that all?” Texas asks, & Tucker is silent for a moment, so Texas goes back to emptying a clip into the wall around Caboose.

“That’s basically it, sir. They have five guys over there & a. . . huh. I forgot what I was going to say.”

“& your flag.” Texas stops shooting to reload, & Tucker nods.

“Right, that must’ve been what I was trying to say.” Texas finishes reloading, & before he can aim again, Tucker speaks up.

“Uh, hey, Tex? I don’t know what it’s been like at your other bases, but we try not to use other soldiers as target practice here.” Genkins can almost imagine how Tex probably rolls his eyes as Tex puts the magnum on his hip, & Caboose seems to finally be able to breathe.

“That was scary,” Caboose says, & Tex turns, marching off. He gets to one of the main rooms of the base, & Tucker trails behind Tex, & Genkins follows as well, interested in the Freelancer.

Tex has a bag of weapons, open on the floor, & Tucker quietly says “Oh _damn,”_ when he realizes it's filled with all sorts of weapons they didn't just have lying around in Blood Gulch.

Tex is brandishing an AR, when he turns to face Tucker, who sounds a little too friendly when he speaks. “So you’ve got the Special Forces black armor! Were you Special Forces?”

Tucker cranes his neck to try & see what else is in the bag, & Tex reloads the AR before he speaks. “Don’t touch my shit.”

Tucker nods a bit too eagerly, but doesn’t reply to the threat, simply going on. “I used to have black armor too, but it was black because I got stuff all over it from th-”

Caboose comes into the room, & Texas takes that moment to be his departure. “Oh, okay, you gotta go? I’ll see you later.”

“I don’t think he likes you,” Caboose says, & Tucker sighs.

“Yeah, thanks Caboose. I had no idea.” Although he says that, he runs to the front of the base, after Tex, & Caboose follows.

“Where are you going?” Tucker yells, & Tex stops running for a moment, twisting his head so he can look over his shoulder at the Blues.

“Red base. Kill everybody. Get the flag back.”

“Oh, okay! We’ll just stay here & guard the. . . trans. . . porter. . .” Caboose trails off as Tex just runs off towards Red base.

“I think I this will be interesting. Perhaps I should’ve tried this route sooner,” Genkins mutters to himself, a grin on his face, standing behind the two Blues- not that they could hear him, or see him. It was a comment to himself, mostly, & perhaps he’d fuck with the timeline in a new way, this time around.


	2. our past is running circles through me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agent Texas arrives, & what she finds is not what she thought she would. Regulation Red throws a wrench in her plans, & she wonders why she doesn't know sign language.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! this is chapter 2, & i'm gonna try to aim for weekly posting on Sundays! there will be pov changes in this story- last chapter was genkins, this chapter is tex!

From what she deduces- Blue team is full of idiots. Perhaps they don’t know that Church is an AI, which would. . . actually make sense, considering the fact that the Project tended to be hush hush about that sort of thing.

 _You could’ve always killed them, Texas._ Omega whispers, & she has half a mind to pull him, in that moment. Omega, her shitty AI, seemed to be more useless than useful, most days. The only thing keeping her from pulling him, at this moment, would be the fact that she’d be a little disoriented from it, as she always was, & that wasn’t exactly what she needed, right now.

Well, that & the fact she’d told the Blues she was going to go kill the Reds. She had a feeling her eyes had been purple, due to one asshole’s influence. It didn’t matter, the words came out of her mouth, regardless of who said it, & she was nothing if not a woman of her word. Texas also needed to find Church, after this. They needed to talk, although it was likely they wouldn’t be able to talk about anything she wanted to, if he was still in the same state as he was when she left him in the MOI during the break-in.

Her chest hurt a little, at remembering that. He hadn’t even known who she was. _& we’ll make the Director pay for it, my dear Tex._

“Shut _up,_ Omega, run my camo unit.” Texas could easily run it herself, but sometimes it’s better to make the other AI do something, for once.

It’s ridiculously easy to run up to Red base with her camo unit- once upon a time, there’d be someone to tell her it was _cheating_ , & she lets that thought go, focusing on ducking behind the two working on the Warthog & sliding around the outside of the base.

There’s three on top of the base, bullshitting, & she watches one of them drop the flag into the center of the base when she alerts the maroon one. _Whatever._

They’re all standing still, & she activates a sticky before throwing it, planting it on the side of the regulation red one’s helmet. The three bullshit about it being a spider while she ducks into the base, & one of them makes a comment about deja vu. What happens next is quick- the sticky exploding, & Tex rushing up, the maroon soldier fainting as she knocked the orange soldier out with a quick punch, before delving back into the base to grab the flag.

She picks up the blue flag effortlessly, & then there’s movement on her motion tracker, but Omega says nothing. When Tex goes to exit, she hears a voice from behind her, “Freeze.”

She turns & there’s regulation red, standing before her, shotgun held up to her head. Motion trackers go off again, & with a quick glance she recognizes the brown one that had been working on the Warthog, was now behind her, an AR held to her back. “Drop your weapons,” Regulation Red barks, & she drops her AR & her magnum.

He comes closer, & the brown one picks up her weapons, silent. “Hey buddy,” Her voice filter makes it come out a bit more gruff than she would’ve said it, but it works.

“What?”

“You _really_ better hope the first one knocks me out.”

Regulation Red doesn’t even dignify her with a response, he simply hits her, & her head swims, & she falls. It wasn’t a necessarily strong hit, but it was a well placed one, fucking up part of her helmet.

It wasn’t enough to incapacitate her, Agent Texas was one hell of a bitch & she’d be _damned_ if she let some no name simtrooper fuck her up, but that didn’t mean she was okay. She’d have to fix some of her components later, which was utter bullshit. As it was, she was currently in an enemy base, guns pointed at her- not that that could stop her, hell no, she was Agent motherfucking Texas, & she hadn’t been at the top of the leaderboard for nothing.

The Reds are talking, but she tunes them out, pushing herself up, commanding Omega to run diagnostics, reading his results when they come up on her HUD- voice module in several states of broken, camouflage unit in disarray & currently rendered unable to be used, significant damage to her helmet where she’d been struck. Had she not been annoyed (Omega’s fault), she’d probably be impressed that it had been a sim trooper that had caused that much damage to her equipment.

Regulation Red turns to her, shotgun following his line of vision until it was pointed at her. “Well, look who’s up! Rise & shine, buttercup.”

Texas tries to run her voice filter despite Omega’s complaints, but it refuses to work, sparking & making a noise until she switches it off. “Oh great, you broke my voice filter,” A sudden sense of deja vu hits her, & she can’t continue what she was going to say, so she leaves it at that.

She orders Omega to work on fixing the camo unit as best he can, & Regulation Red doles out orders, leaving the brown soldier to watch her while the other three go to help with evac for the _other_ regulation red soldier, the one she’d planted a sticky on.

“Hey, Lopez, what’s all the ruckus about?” After the room clears, the voice drifts over from the other corner of the room, & it sounds. . . familiar.

The brown soldier- Lopez, keeps the AR pointed at her, & shuffles it so it’s awkwardly in one hand, reaching the other hand up to his head & making a gesture she’s unfamiliar with.

“You don’t know?” Whoever it is walks in, & the first thing Tex notices is he’s transparent. His armor’s white, & he comes to a stop when he notices her, sitting on the floor of the base. He tilts his head in confusion.

“Who’s this?” His voice is so fucking familiar, & it’s starting to drive Tex crazy. Who _is_ he?

Lopez seems to hesitate for a moment, before putting his weapon on his back, turning halfway to face the transparent guy. He makes another gesture, using both hands, first pointing at his hands before bringing his hands down.

Transparent guy signs something back, & Tex wonders why _she_ doesn’t know sign language, but that doesn’t matter when there’s sudden yelling in the distance, but it sounds like it’s drawing closer.

Texas notices there’s a readout on her HUD that she’s ignored this whole time, distracted by the transparent guy, & there’s now movement on her motion trackers, & the guy seems to notice & get spooked, disappearing before she can say anything.

Tex huffs, & Omega evidently gets upset at her ignoring his readouts on her HUD, & decides to take a different approach to getting her attention. _Texas._

“What?” She whispers, tone harsh, & they both know that it’s not Omega that has her upset.

_Camo unit can run for a short period time, but will need to be thoroughly fixed later on. Voice modulator, per your request, has been similarly rigged._

Texas doesn’t say thank you to Omega, but even if she had wanted to, the orange soldier & the maroon soldier stroll in, & they relieve Lopez of his duties.

“So, you’re a girl, huh?” The orange one asks, & she rolls her eyes. _Great. Simtroopers._

“Just ignore Grif, that’s what I do.” The maroon one speaks up, & she notes the name.

Orange- Grif, keeps running his mouth, “Not so tough now that we unloaded your weapon, are ya?”

“Hey punk, I don’t need a weapon to kill you.”

“Yeah, right,” Grif scoffs, “What’re you- aw fuck! Simmons, deja vu is back.” He groans, & Maroon, now known as Simmons, groans too.

“Quit it, asshole! Every fucking time you do that shit, I get it too!” Simmons turns around to face Grif, & Tex takes advantage of the moment.

“Omega, run camo unit!” She barks, & as soon as she’s under the cover of it, she makes a run for it, rushing Simmons & taking his magnum off his hip, just so she had something with her.

“Oh fuck!” Grif yells, & Tex doesn’t want to deal with them, so she just makes an exit from Red base, & Omega tells her she’s got about a minute left of camo. _Motherfucker._

She makes it about halfway across the canyon before the unit shuts down, although it had been flickering & malfunctioning the entire time she had it activated. Tex ducks behind a rock, & she’s incredibly frustrated, & she wants to blame it on Omega. Perfect. Just fucking _perfect._

She’d failed in the simple task she’d been paid for, her equipment was busted, & she had started to acknowledge the uneasiness that persisted no matter how many times she reassured herself she had no reason to feel that way. Tex squares her shoulders & shoves that uneasiness back down, as there’s more pressing matters. She needs to get her equipment fixed, & she needs to finish the job, & maybe she can figure out the whole white armor thing. Blood Gulch had too much bullshit in it for one simulation trooper outpost, even if it _did_ have the Alpha, & she _was_ going to get down to the bottom of it.

The first thing on her list- talk to Church.

“Omega, run my voice module.”


	3. oh so, that's why you befriended me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donut's back in Blood Gulch, Tex is back in black, & it seems like someone knows a bit more than they should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting this a day early! i updated some of the tags, but not by much! this chapter is donut's pov, & i'm going to try to keep this fic genkins/tex/donut POVs except i know there's gonna be at least one chapter in someone else's pov, anyways, i hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> edit: this chapter as of (5/12/19) has been slightly edited! it's been a bit rewritten based on me going back & changing some stuff, but it's not too important to reread if you've read it already!

Jumping into the past version of himself is trippy, & it’s like taking a breath after being underwater long enough for your lungs to burn, even after he’s done it so many times before. Donut stumbles slightly, wheezing, unused to it, & the two Reds in front of him turn around.

“What the hell Donut?” Grif asks, & Donut has to catch his breath before he can answer.

“God, you sound like the vacuum when it picks up a penny-”

“Look Simmons, I didn’t tell you to break the-”  
“For the last time, Grif, I didn’t break the vacuum!”  
“Guys!” Donut interrupts the two, & he _really_ wonders how they hadn’t gotten together in all the years they spent bitching in the canyon. They honestly sounded like an old married couple.

“Do you remember anything?” Donut asks, rather than starting with anything else. It might be easier to just start outright, even if this has never worked before.

“Um, remember _what_?” Grif asks, crossing his arms. “Don’t tell me we forgot like, wine & cheese hour or something, Donut. We can make it up at the next one.”

“Not that! Time travel!”

“Time travel isn’t scientifically possible, Donut. Actually, if we could time travel, the idea would-”

“Okay if you’re gonna have Simmons nerding out, I’m leaving.” Grif raises his hands, & Simmons scoffs.

“Yeah, like _you_ would know anything about time travel, Grif.”

“I think I’d know more about time travel than you would, genius.” Simmons sputters at that reply, & Donut just knows this is about to be one of those weeklong arguments they have.

“Temple? The cosmic powers? Anything?!” Donut persists, & the two turn back to him.

“Temple? Like. . . the building? No, we’ve been in this fucking canyon. Are you okay Donut?”

Donut groans. “No! The Blue!”

“I think I hear Sarge calling you, Donut, maybe you should go see to it before he comes looking,” Grif says, & there’s something. . . off about him. Donut doesn’t know what it is yet, but he’ll leave it be for now.

Simmons looks a bit out of place, head snapping between Grif & Donut, & Donut figures that Simmons really has no clue about the time travel. “Simmons, do you hear Sarge?”

“Uh. . . yeah! Yeah I do, Donut, you should go before he storms up here talking about insubordination or-”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll go see what it is.”

Donut turns on his heel & heads into Red base, mind overflowing with questions, & one thing was prevalent on his mind- he needed someone to believe him, & someone to help him with Wash. _Someone_ had to remember.

He wasn’t sure how far back he was this time, he’d simply gone back through the portal & winded up here, back in Blood Gulch. Had Church already died?

It didn’t entirely matter, he & Wash were going to link up, & they were gonna convince everyone else, & they were gonna bring the fight to Genkins & Chrovos. They’d talked about it extensively outside of the Everwhens- Wash hadn’t insisted the name was stupid (unlike _someone_ had), & they planned to travel back & try their best to match up with each other, they’d picked the exact timecrack, but that didn’t necessarily mean that they had shown up at the same time.

If Donut was as far back as he thought he was, then he’d probably have to fight his way to Project Freelancer, & what if Wash wasn’t there, in that Wash? What would he do then?

He needed _help_ from the Reds & Blues, but he’d only been unsuccessful in his attempts to convince the Reds, Grif maybe knowing, but not. It’d be easier when they got Wash, & maybe it’d be easier if he just blipped out & then back into himself- but what if he missed Wash?

Donut sighed. It wasn’t that detrimental for him to just stay until he came across Wash, right? If Genkins was here, maybe he could prevent Genkins from breaking this specific time stream more?

Who would believe him, though? He’d tried so many times unsuccessfully. . . wait. One person _had_ listened to him, one blue, but was it worth it to go over there right now? He put his battle rifle on his back, waiting for it to mag-lock before he let his hands fall, mind wandering. What was the Blues schedule, back in Blood Gulch? If Genkins hadn’t royally fucked everything over yet here, then he _thinks_ it’d be something like Church & Tucker dicking around at their base, & Caboose on patrol- he hoped he was right.

Donut figured he’d go to blue base, then. He’d single out Caboose, & then he’d have at least one of the Reds & Blues on his side, right?

The trek across the canyon was relatively quiet, & Blue base was even quieter, if that was possible. Donut figured he’d like, sneak into Blue base, look for Caboose, & if he couldn’t find him, search somewhere else.

Donut had barely stepped into the foyer when he could hear a gun being cocked. Donut froze immediately, even though he wanted to turn & see who had him at gunpoint.

“Put your hands up,” It’s not a voice he knows, so he takes his chances & glances over his shoulder, raising his hands in the air as he does so. The black armor tips him off, the other soldier towering over him, _Tex._

“Oh hey Tex,” Donut says awkwardly, drawing out the y.

“I’m sure you know where you are, bubblegum.” Donut’s not entirely sure what he should even say, she probably wouldn’t believe the whole Everwhens thing, & he’s really not looking forward to being able to say he’d been shot by two Freelancers.

“I’m uh, I’m looking for Caboose.” He spits out, instead, & Tex tilts her head.

“The blue one? The dark blue one? That one?” She says, & there’s disbelief in her filtered voice.

“Yeah! Do you know where he is?”

Tex doesn’t say anything for a minute, but she whispers something that he can’t make out, & he asks her what she said, only to get the equivalent of a glare, not that he could actually _tell_ if she was glaring because of the helmet, but he was pretty sure she was glaring at him. “Wasn’t talking to you, shut up.”

Another minute passes, & she nods to herself, & lowers her AR. “He’s out back. Behind the base. It’s just him out there, talking about planting daylilies. Hurry up before I change my mind.”

“Thanks,” Donut squeaks before he runs through Blue base & out the back of it, not passing anyone (thankfully).

Sure enough, just as she said, Caboose is sitting, helmetless behind Blue base, digging a hole & talking to himself. “Hey Caboose!”

Caboose twists his head over his shoulder & when he spots Donut, he breaks out into a grin. “Hello! I have missed you!”

“Missed me?”

“Yes! You took the hammer & then you were gone & now we are here!” Donut walks closer, & he sits down next to the blue.

“You remember?”

“Of course, do you not?”

“I do, but everyone else doesn’t, Caboose, that’s why I need your help. We have to convince everyone!”

Caboose goes quiet, & he looks down at the ground, running his hand through the pile of sand that had amassed while he was absentmindedly digging. “Church isn’t Church,” He mutters, & Donut feels his heart break for Caboose.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that Caboose. That’s not Church.”

“But- but they _look_ the same & this is Blood Gulch &-”

“I know, Caboose.”

“Do you think Tucker still loves me? I tried talking to him but he couldn’t- he didn’t say anything.” Caboose looks back up, & Donut thinks he can see tears in his eyes. Fuck, they’d really messed up with all this time travel shit, huh?

“Of course he would! You’re his _boyfriend,_ why wouldn’t he remember you?” Donut tries, but if he’s honest. . . he’s not really sure _if_ anyone besides them remembers. Caboose isn’t supposed to really remember, considering he’s in the Everwhens. He’s a shisno, but even Wash had to take some convincing, at first.

“Thanks Donut. I am going to go inside now,” Caboose stands up & heads into Blue base, & Donut is left in the sand, feeling awful that he’d made Caboose feel bad. He hoped Caboose would feel better, & he was going to make sure Tucker remembered for Caboose.

Donut stands up, & he heads back to Red base. It’s starting to get dark when he returns, & he avoids the rest of red team, when he gets there. From his room, he can hear Simmons & Grif bitching, & Sarge talking about getting a speech unit for Lopez- Donut’s so far back in the Everwhens that it almost feels like it’s going to be forever until he sees the real Wash again.

The next few days pass without any problems, Lopez gets a speech unit installed, he can only speak in Spanish, but Donut finds that Grif tends to avoid Lopez whenever possible. He doesn’t think anything of it until one night, as he’s cleaning his armor, Grif walks into his room without warning, shutting the door behind him.

“Oh, um, hi Grif,” Donut says, & Grif’s just in his civvies, & Grif crosses his arms, face twisted into an unpleasant expression.

“I don’t trust you but I know you’re the only one who knows. What happened?” Grif accuses, & Donut’s caught off guard. He’s not sure what the orange soldier means, even when he wracks his brain for answers. Did he mess something up while reliving this moment?

“What do you mean?”

“This! I didn’t think of anything of it but just having a bad feeling from you- but I know _Spanish_ , when did I learn Spanish? Why does this all feel wrong?” It hits Donut like a Warthog, & Grif sounds a bit panicked. Grif knows. Grif _knows._

“Oh my god, you know!” Donut can’t stop himself from saying, & Grif’s eyes narrow.

“Know _what_ , Donut? You haven’t told me shit!”

“You remember, the- the paradox! You guys caused a paradox, & shattered time!” It comes out a bit desperate, & Donut wishes he could say that again but differently.

“‘You guys’? What, you weren’t there?”

“You can remember this if you just- think about it Grif, if you don’t know Spanish but you _do,_ what does that mean? Focus on it!” Donut chooses to keep to the remembering part, first, & Grif looks concentrated as he falls quiet, before his jaw drops & his mouth makes a little ‘o’.

Donut doesn’t expect the anger. “You betrayed us!” Grif barks, & he points at Donut.

“I-”

“No! You took the hammer & you left!”

“You guys started it! You called me gullible! Tucker called me stupid! Sarge called me an _empty suit of armor!_ You’re the ones who fucked up time & caused a paradox!” Donut spits, & it’s just like when he’d accused Wash of shooting him, he instantly feels bad for being upset over it but he needed to say it. He’d thought about it a lot, even when he tried not to, it just kinda. . . spilled out.

Grif looks away, but Donut doesn’t miss what he mumbles. It’s a quiet apology, but it’s more than Donut’s ever gotten before. He feels himself tear up, & he nods. “Yeah.”

“So, Donut, uh, what do we do?”

“Let me start at what happened _after_ I took the hammer.”


	4. i guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Texas talks to the Reds. Or tries to, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! this chapter is a week late, but i hope you enjoy it! i'm gonna be trying my best to get the next chapter up as soon as i can!  
> edit: as of 5/12/19 i changed part of this chapter! it is important to reread that part (after tex talks to the reds) as it plays into the story!

From her countless hours of study, Tex has decided that the Reds are odd. The pink one is mainly the one she ends up coming across, & Church’s ghost- as he called it, & she supposed she could roll with that, it wasn’t exactly common knowledge he was an AI- helpfully informed her that the pink soldier was “nothing important.” Talking with Church did little to quell the uneasiness that had coiled itself in her gut, & Omega had, as usual, been of little help, existing more as someone to bounce ideas off of rather than much else. The AI was stubborn, & still insisted on her slaughtering the entirety of Red team, but she’d shrugged that off, by now.

She still hadn’t quite gotten over the whole failure thing, & she still hadn’t gotten around to capturing the flag, but she’d gotten over the fact that Sarge had busted her helmet. She had a moderate amount of respect for him, considering the fact he was a simulation trooper that got the best of her.

As it was, she’d been in contact with red team quite a _bit,_ as of late. Texas had kept it a secret between her & Caboose, an unsaid promise to keep the fact that one certain pink soldier kept worming his way into the base despite her attempts to keep him out, because no one wanted to hear Church bitch. Church had changed a lot since the last time she’d seen him, but one thing hadn’t changed- Church absolutely loved to hear himself talk & all he talked was shit.

Texas rolled her eyes & leaned back in her shitty metal chair. If she had been without armor, she’d most certainly have burns from the fact it was a metal chair in fucking _Blood Gulch,_ of all places, & she thought about how it was kinda quiet here, at least when the Reds weren’t on some useless mission to go take Blue Base or gloat over having the flag.

It seemed like she was going to have to get more personal with the Reds, however, considering the fact that Church always seemed to duck & weave through her questions with a grace she hadn’t seen him have before- something new, definitely- & Tucker seemed not to know anything, & Caboose had. . . less than informative answers. They were mainly _cryptic,_ talking of things she’d never heard of, things like some supposed chorus, but the few things she did know only raised her suspicion, like mutterings of the Epsilon AI & some top secret Freelancer armor enhancement projects, like the armor lock system.

Any further questioning always had Caboose telling her that Grif & Donut knew more about it, & all her gathered evidence did point to it- if she really wanted answers, she’d end up at the door of the Reds sooner or later.

With the rest of her resources being exhausted, there really _was_ only one place for her to go, which was Red base. She sighs at the thought of even going there, & Omega snickers & she has half a mind to pull him. _‘Wait, Texas, c’mon, don’t be like that! You don’t want to pull me,’_ She can hear the AI smirking because everything is either a joke or universal domination with him, & she makes up her mind.

Her helmet is off quickly, & her head buzzes as she slides her fingers to the back of her head & pulls out Omega’s chip, curling her hand around it protectively. The hot, arid air rushes to meet her face, & she wrinkles her nose at just how uncomfortable it is. She thinks she prefers the internal cooling systems of her armor rather than the actual atmosphere, but at least it isn’t hot & humid. She runs her thumb over Omega’s chip, & puts it in a little pocket she had on the side of her armor, before wiping some of her black hair out of her face. She’d probably have to dye it again soon, but it’s easier to just put the damn helmet back on, so she does, & her face is encased in cool, refreshing air, & keeping her armor on meant she didn’t need to worry about her processors overheating, since she always kept everything in tiptop shape.

“Alright Texas, up & at ‘em, time to go talk to the Reds,” She says to herself, & she pushes herself up out of the dumb metal chair. Red base isn’t far, it’s never been far, but the quiet that falls over the canyon as she walks there isn’t ideal.

Silence means everyone is either asleep, or it’s too fucking hot to even bitch about it being hot, or, worst case scenario, someone is or is presumed to be dead.

Tex pulls open the front door of Red base when she gets there, & inside, the base is sweltering. She almost feels _bad_ for the Reds, maybe she should convince them to hire her to fix them an air conditioning unit, or something.

The first Red she runs into is not one of the Reds she’s looking for, & Simmons squawks when he sees Tex. He’s got about half his armor on, & he promptly freaks when he sees Texas. “I- Sarge! Sarge the Blues are invading!” His voice cracks halfway through, & it takes every ounce of self-control for her to not laugh, but she does snort.

Simmons scrambles away, & she walks on, because everyone else is probably here, & that’s when she notices that, on the walls, are _signs._ Red team has signs on their walls so that. . . they don’t get lost? Maybe? Either way, they’re helpful, & after a few more turns, she finds a door that’s covered in a sign saying _’Donut’s Room’_ & notes the strong scent of vanilla oozing from it. Tex knocks on the door rather than just open it- she learned that from Blue Team, unfortunately- & within four seconds, the door flies open, & Donut is grinning until he realizes who’s at the door.

His reaction is similar to Simmons’ reaction, & it looks like he goes through a lot of feelings at her standing there before settling on uneasiness. “Oh! Tex, uh, what brings you here?”

“What, I couldn’t visit the Reds?” She asks, like an asshole, & Donut shifts uncomfortably.

“Well-”

She pushes past him into the room, & ignores his protests. She spots Grif slouched in the corner- he had an eye open looking at her but closed it when she looked at him, as if to pretend he’s asleep. “Someone gave me some questions that only you two have answers to,” Tex says simply, & Grif keeps up the act.

“What questions?”

“What exactly do you know about Project Freelancer?”

“I- well, of course we don’t know anything about that!” Donut lies, & she depolarizes her visor to glare at him.

“That’s not what Caboose says.” Grif groans, & he opens his eyes, clearly giving it up.

“That motherfucker, Donut-”

“We don’t know _anything,”_ Donut smiles at her, & Tex simply stares at him. Donut can’t keep up the eye contact for too long, & he fidgets under her gaze.

“Okay, well, _maybe_ we know something. But that is a very iffy maybe!”

“Well, if you’re not gonna say anything, maybe Grif will.”

“Grif wouldn’t talk-”

“Listen, Blue, you could hand me a bag of snack cakes & I’d tell you anything you wanted to know.” Grif says, & Donut’s jaw drops at how easy Grif is.

_“Grif-”_

“Deal. What do you know about Project Freelancer?” Grif eyes her & yawns, but keeps his mouth shut beyond that.

“Well?”

“Once I see the snack cakes, I’ll start talking.” Tex thinks that sometimes, dealing with the Reds is fucking torture.

“What if I just beat you up instead?” Tex says, & Grif doesn’t bother to move.

“Not talking.” He waves a hand at her, & before she can even bite anything else out, she gets a little notification on her visor, informing her that she’s got a call.

“Fine,” She bites out, & marches out of the room, but the caller hangs up before she can answer, & she plays back the voicemail. It’s one of her old buddies, offering a nice pay if she heads out, & she thinks she might take it. It’s paying a fuck ton more than she would be getting for Blood Gulch, & it wasn’t like she really _needed_ to be here anyways. Church seemed fine, more or less, & the Director couldn’t fragment him from halfway across the galaxy, especially not with the UNSC breathing down his neck, so skipping out was okay. Leaving Blood Gulch would be refreshing, too, if only for a change of scenery & change of idiots.

She’s nearly at the back door of Red Base, lost in her thoughts, when she walks into _him._ He jumps like he’s seen a ghost, & she’s suddenly reminded that he’s here. He’s transparent, & she’d honestly forgot about him, caught up in the pingpong bullshit of sim trooper drama. “Oh. It’s you,” He breathes, & he seems to relax slightly.

“Hi.” She deadpans, & he perks up.

“You’re leaving, right? What if I. . . hitch a ride with you? Maybe?” He asks, & there’s hope in his tone. She still doesn’t know who the fuck he is.

“First of all, who are you? Second of all, you were in Donut’s room? With us? What do they know?” Tex says, & the guy raises his hands.

“Hey, lady, look, I don’t know shit. It’s embarrassing, but I don’t even know who I _am.”_

“Then just _pick_ a name for yourself, so we can get over this quickly & I can, at the very least, leave Red base.”

“No, picking a name is important! You gotta help me- hey, what if I went with your state shtick, & how about Carolina?” He asks, nodding to himself, & Tex cringes at the name.

“There’s already a Carolina,” She manages to say, & he doesn’t notice how choked up she sounds about it.

“Fuck. Is there any state not taken?” She steps through him, & he splutters as she walks away. There’s a moment of silence before he’s back, keeping up with her stride.

“Hey! Didn’t your mother ever tell you to not walk through ghosts? It’s rude!” His voice cracks, which isn’t even physically possible, & Tex sighs before stopping again.

“Okay, look, if you shut up & tell me what I want to know, I’ll let you come with me.” She says, against her better judgement, & he makes a childish gesture over his helmet.

“These lips are zipped.” He says, & it occurs to her that maybe he does belong in this canyon if he’s acting like that.

She depolarizes her visor to give him an annoyed look, & he doesn’t seem to make anything of it.

“So! What do you want to know, huh?”

“I said shut up, if you don’t have ears.”

He makes a faux gasp. “I’m _sensitive_ about that fact! All I have is armor, my poor ears…”

“I’m not sure if you just love hearing yourself talk or if you’re just an asshole.”

“Oh, come on, I’m not an asshole! Wait- do you really think I’m an asshole? Hold on, Texas, _Texas.”_ He begs, & Tex feels a little bit of a smile worm its way on her face. Ugh.


	5. a liar will not be believed even when he speaks the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genkins thinks his job kind of sucks, even if its alright sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter today- i know it's been a month since i last updated- i'm so sorry. i've been a little busy lately :/  
> i edited some of the parts in chap. 3 & 4, so you should check those out before reading this chapter- mainly 4 was changed, you can skip 3, but i also changed some of the tags & the name of the story! i'm gonna try to get back to an updating schedule, i promise!

Genkins flexes _his_ fingers, the light blue armor a sharp contrast to his usual green, a grin flashes across his face. He’s so _excited_ for this to be over. So far, it’s basically been a breeze, a dream, & watching Donut try to fix things has been. . . interesting, he supposes. Wash was better, although almost forcing them to throw in the towel, but seeing Chrovos upset was glorious, so perhaps he owes the soldier that one.

He’d particularly enjoyed the little shtick they’d had with the time gun, how arrogant they were, & Genkins had only heard about it after the fact, but Wash & Donut simply ditching Chrovos instead of listening to her talk was _gold._

The shisnos were annoying, don’t get him wrong, but they sure knew how to freshen up a dull experience. He was content with fracturing time further, expanding the cracks, & Chrovos was. . . Chrovos, but he was making progress & soon they’d be out of the water & it’d be time for _him_ to be important.

Wash had contributed to the group effort of breaking Chrovos out with his meddling, although Genkins didn’t mind him. Wash was separated from the Reds & Blues, trying to fix Freelancer issues, & he was out of Genkins’ way. The only one truly posing a threat, off in his own little world? Genkins could nearly jump with joy at it. Everything was just going so _swimmingly_ , & the shisnos were perfect at fucking time up, unknowingly.

This entire job had been laughably easy, but he’d be lying if he said he was enjoying it. Some moments were fun, but mostly it was frustrating, spending so much time with the idiots.

Going in & out of time with them was. . . certainly an experience, & he found he had to take breaks to cope with it- he hoped this would be done sooner rather than later, because Chrovos was getting testy & Genkins was _not_ going to deal with a Chrovos tantrum.

A touch to his arm startles him, & he pulls it away from whoever it was only to realize it was Tucker. “Church?” The shisno asked cautiously, & Genkins rolled his eyes.

“What is it?”

“You’re being. . . weird.” Tucker’s voice is soft, but it feels coddling, & Genkins hates it. It reminds him of the cosmic powers, how he was insufferably invisible no matter what he did.

“Shut up, Tucker.” Is all he can think of saying, & Tucker just raises his hands.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go. But have you seen Tex? I can’t find her.”

“She should be on patrol-”

“She’s nowhere to be _found_ but since you have such an obsession with her, I figured you would know. I guess not.” Tucker leaves, & it is a good point. Tex is probably chilling with her camo on, or hidden in the cliffs, or perhaps she’s beating up the Reds- he particularly hopes she takes care of Donut, he’d relive that for hours, if allowed. Donut. . . the fucking shisno, reinforcing Chrovos’ binding & forcing Genkins to have to work more for what he wanted.

They had been _so close,_ but of course the pink one had to be an idiot- Genkins stopped his thought track & took a breath, calming himself down. Surely it wasn’t that big of a deal, right? He was going to be done soon, & he wouldn’t have to deal with the shisnos any longer, & it would be him & Chrovos & he could do whatever the fuck he wanted. Soon.


End file.
